Lincoln adopts 5-year tourism action plan

By Mike Williscraft
NewsNow

The Town of Lincoln has put its money where its mouth is by adopting a five-year Tourism Action Plan.

“We believe tourism is a key pillar to drive sustainable growth that serves the long-term interest of our economy, businesses, environment and our citizens,” says Town of Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton.

“This plan lays the groundwork for making Lincoln a leading tourist destination in Ontario.”

Initial steps have included:

• Approving a five-year tourism action plan;
• Securing funding from the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, and;
• Working with the Twenty Valley Tourism Association (TVTA) to re-envision the destination marketing organization.

Part of the formula for the plan includes at $146,000 grant from the Tourism Association of Ontario.

“The money secured will go towards marketing and supporting the tourism industry here in Lincoln. The goal is to drive awareness of our tourism assets and tap into the local and GTHA markets to have Ontarians “visit your own backyard,” said Paul Di Ianni, Lincoln economic development officer, who noted the five-year outline was developed to allow time for flexibility throughout.

“We selected a five- year rollout as it allows us time to implement the overall goals of the strategy, which includes upgrading our wayfinding and gateway features throughout the community. The wayfinding and gateway updates will be implemented over the five-year period, whereas a lot of the heavy lifting on the changes to our Destination Marketing Organization (DMO) will happen on the front end of the five-year strategy. While there is an action plan associated with it, we view it as a living document that will allow us to modify as needed.”

Part of the plan is to evolve Twenty Valley Tourism Association into the workings of the municipality.

“During the transition the TVTA in its current form will still be operating and supporting its members. An interim Executive Director will be named and this person will continue to work for the TVTA, albeit with administrative support from the municipality. The TIAO funding we received was a joint application by the Town and the TVTA, additional funding will be sought, where applicable.”